The progression of Sunny Day Real Estate's music is fairly logical. It began in the mid-90's with Diary and LP2, both very raw, in-your-face albums. Diary being the more emotionally involved album, whereas LP2 being their more original and creative attempts. After the breakup and reformation of the band, How It Feels to Be Something On followed in 1998 -- an amazing record of angelic proportions layering beautiful guitar lines over intense, driving music. And finally, we have The Rising Tide where Sunny Day's progression reaches near prog-rock status.
Many of the songs are layered with keyboards and strings, giving the album a full, slick sound. Whether this is good or bad, or both, this album presents some of SDRE's best moments. "The Ocean" and "Tearing in My Heart" are two lush compositions that show the light-hearted side of SDRE, while songs like "Killed By An Angel" and "Snibe" sees the hard-rocking SDRE of past.
But one of the vital elements missing in these songs are the unique bass playing that was especially evident on LP2 and How it Feels. Lead singer/guitarist Jeremy Enigk fills in on bass for The Rising Tide, causing the basslines to sound as if they were last priority in the recording process. And the overall emotional impact and feeling from these songs are noticeably different than before.
This is definitely a different band than the one that helped create the term "emo" in the 90's. And maybe that's why it's so hard to enjoy the album. It is by no means a bad album, but it just seems that Sunny Day may be dabbling in territory that doesn't suit them as well as their earlier efforts. 1. Killed by an Angel
2. One
3. Rain Song
4. Disappear
5. Snibe
6. The Ocean
7. Fool in the Photograph
8. Tearing in My Heart
9. Television
10. Faces in Disguise
11. The Rising Tide
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